One day last summer, I had the good fortune to stumble across a unique Internet documentary series, presented by acclaimed artist and director, David Lynch: Interview Project. 

The series, which began in June 2009, is now winding its way towards the home stretch and I wanted to bring your attention to this first-rate piece of work before it comes to an end.

IP, a 20,000 mile road trip without a plan. A sort of Zen and the art of free spirit wanderlust.

Co-directed by Austin Lynch, along with his friend Jason S., IP continues to mine some of the rich terrain and wonderful characters which David Lynch brought to the screen in the satisfyingly moving 1999 film, “The Straight Story.” (God bless Richard Farnsworth.) (more…)

…And sometimes they’re down right exceptional. 

Paging Mr. Schlichter…paging Mr. Kurt Schlichter. You see, while reading the recent article, “Top 10: Lead Performances of the Last 25 Years” I stumbled across these words: ”And you film snobs out there are out of luck. This list completely ignores foreign language films…” 

Film snobs? WTF!? Movie lovers who enjoy foreign language films are artistic snoots in the eyes of Mr. KS? Nah, I don’t think so. Not me.

 While I could appreciate the article and some of the choices of lead performances by actors over the past 25 years, I do believe KS missed out when he decided to exclude performances by actors in foreign films. 

As reader J.B. stated in the comment section:  (more…)

Friendship. Love. Dreams. All good stuff in life. 

“Inside Moves” is a little gem of a film, director Richard Donner knocked out back in 1980 between, among others, “Superman” and “Lethal Weapon.” Working from a solid script by Valerie Curtin and Barry Levinson, “Inside Moves” tells the story of a young man named, Roary, (beautifully portrayed by John Savage) who, after a failed suicide attempt, sets out to put the pieces of his life back together again. Along the way, he finds a motley group of friends, who accept him for the man he is, as he discovers just how sweet life can be, when you’re willing to risk, willing to go for your dreams. 

Shortly after being discharged from the local hospital, Roary, moving along like some sort of sand crab as a result of his injuries, finds himself among the slightly ‘crippled,’ yet not-so-broken souls of Max’s Bar (a wonderful ensemble of actors, including casting director turned actor, Bert Remsen, jazz great, Bill Henderson and Harold Russell, the Academy Award winner from “The Best Years of Our Lives,” add to the joy and spirit of the film.) 

Roary immediately strikes up a friendship with bartender, Jerry Maxwell, (the fine David Morse) who invites him to watch the San Francisco Warriors, play some round ball later that night. At the game, Jerry is all over hot shot rookie, Alvin Martin, (Harold Sylvester) who, while clearly a talented player, seems to lack the killer instinct to be a truly great player. After the Warriors lose the game, due to Alvin’s freezing under pressure, the mouthy Jerry confronts him, challenging him to a game of one-on-one. Alvin accepts. Put up. Shut up.  (more…)

Maybe it’s the boomer in me. Or perhaps, it has something to do with the fact that I’m the product of a dad who once was an usher at the local movie house I literally grew up in. The celluloid son-of-a-lovin’ father who used to let my mom sneak in the side door of the theatre during the Saturday afternoon matinee just so they could be together. Even when I was born, he asked his best friend and fellow usher at the Coolidge Theatre, Mikey Citino, to be my godfather when I was baptized. Who knows? Whatever it is or was, I don’t care.  I love movies.

As a kid, for me, goin’ to the movies was like goin’ to church. It was something special. I remember my older cousin, Eddie Cassassa, taking me to the show, when I was about 4 or 5. I’ll never forget him sitting me in the front row, to watch Boris Karloff  in “Frankenstein,” one fine Saturday afternoon. I was scared stiff and loved every minute.

A few years later, it was the same cousin Eddie who got us thrown out of the theatre during a matinee of “The Devil at 4 O ‘Clock” starring Frank Sinatra and Spencer Tracy. He laughed his ass off as the usher escorted us to the exit door, while I was just humiliated. Like gettin’ thrown outta church! (more…)

I like Sgt. James Crowley. I like him a lot.

Jimmy, from all accounts, has shown himself to be a stand-up guy. A good man, a good cop. Someone who is respected and loved by the people who matter most in his life: family, friends and the men and women who serve with him in the Cambridge Police Department, back in my home state of Massachusetts. Anyone who saw the strong statements made by Sgt. Leon Lashley and Officer Kelly King in support of their colleague can appreciate that these two people came forward.

I’m happy for Jimmy Crowley because now that the dog and pony show staged by the ringmaster-in-chief is officially over, he can get on with his life. Go back home where he belongs, with his wife and kids, being a dad. He can hold his head high for the way he conducted himself, after being called “a racist” by a good friend of the president during an unfortunate event which should never have occurred in the first place. (more…)

And so I found myself awake at 2:29 Friday morning. Unable to sleep, thinking of Marc Lee. 

Marc Alan Lee, a brave young man, who made the ultimate sacrifice, on August 2, 2006, while serving with our troops in Iraq.  He was 28 years old. 

I had first learned of Marc, on Thursday morning, as I clicked onto Big Hollywood to get my daily fix of politics and pop culture. What I didn’t know at the time was that this was a different kind of day at my favorite website. The content and articles printed were dedicated solely to the military and their families. 

And so I found myself, reading a letter from one, U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Marc A. Lee. (more…)

While I’d be the first to admit I’m not quite Alan Alda, I like to think I’m still a feminist, in a Flintstone sort of way (read conservative).

Yeah, my wife would probably be the first one to tell you, I’m a caveman with heart. At the end of the day, however, I support women’s rights, especially when it comes to them being treated with respect.

On Monday, I wrote an article concerning Bill Maher’s recent attempt to one-up his friend, David Letterman, on the stupid ladder. During his opening monologue on his June 12 “Real Time” show, Maher took his shot at the Palin girls and later went on to state how he believed his pal’s jokes were “harmless.” A claim he continued to echo as recently as yesterday in an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN: (more…)

Here we go again. 

During his opening monologue on ‘Real Time’ Friday night, Bill Maher, couldn’t resist piling on to the David Letterman controversy and the sex jokes made by him earlier in the week regarding Sarah Palin’s daughter. 

In defending his friend, Maher thought Republicans had over reacted and this was just a case of ‘fake’ outrage. Much ado about nothing. He then went on talking about how Letterman had invited Sarah Palin and her young daughter, Willow, to appear as guests on his show but the Governor declined because she thought it would be wise to keep her daughter away from him. Said Maher, “…that’s right, he’s 62 years old, he’s gonna fuck her right there on stage…it would be very wise to keep her, very wise, yes. You know, I’d worry a little more about the 18-year old hockey players who knock up your daughters.” To which his audience of trained seals laughed and clapped and had a good old time.  (more…)

A few days ago I wrote an article to post at Big Hollywood, which was motivated in part by my reaction to watching the video of Jamean Garofalo, who recently appeared as a guest on Meek Olberdogg’s ‘Putdown’ Show. Clearly, she struck a nerve in me.  Making outrageous statements, she accused thousands of men and women, who participated in the recent Tea Party events, as being racist. Quote: “This is about hating a black man in the White House. This is racism straight up.” Even for Ms. Garofalo this had to be a new low. To steal a ripe response from Mr. One Pissed Off Dude himself, Gary Graham, let me just say, “FTS.” 

Still at another place and time we had Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) who in keeping with the nasty spirit of Garofalo blasted the Tea Party events in her own unique, elitist way. Quote: “It’s despicable that right-wing Republicans would attempt to cheapen a significant, honorable moment of American history with a shameful political stunt.” What’s “despicable” and “shameful” to me is the contempt Rep. Schakowsky seems to hold for average American citizens who chose to get out there on April 15th and exercise their rights under the First Amendment. It has become blatantly obvious by those on the left, First Amendment rights only apply to them and to their agenda. I guess the rest of us should just stay home and eat cake. Once again, FTS.  (more…)

My wife loves me.

Despite the fact I’m an actor, she loves me. She thinks I’m the most talented guy on the planet, even as work continues to dry up.  The eternal optimist to my ever lovin’ pessimist. I’m a Flintstone while she’s a beauty with a heart of gold.  I make her laugh.  She loves my bits. (A particular favorite is, my DeNiro, as Jake LaMotta, performing Kenny Loggins, “House at Pooh Corner”). FAHGETAHBOUT IT! My wife’s a peach.

Lately, however, there’ve been some clouds brewing on the horizon and it’s possible I may have had a slight hand in creating the situation.  I’ve been listening to her as she’s watching the tube, talking about how Hannity is so cute.  On other occasions, how the humble founder of Big Hollywood, Andrew Breitbart, has such a quick wit.  I mean, I can handle her getting jazzed about Dennis Prager but this is new stuff for me. For the longest time, she was just so liberal.  To this day, she’s a registered Democrat.  I asked myself, how did this happen?  How did she go from being a liberal woman from Buffalo to being charmed by the likes of O’Reilly?  As I mentioned, I may be somewhat to blame because truth be told, at one time I was a liberal guy from Beantown.  A man who voted for both Carter and Clinton.  There, I said it.  (more…)